£131pw plus food and bills - in university leased house which has kitchen/dining area, bathroom with shower & loo and also another sep shower and sep loo and a utillity room, shared between 5. (and a garden which they have to keep tidy, and a garage for storage)

University of the Arts (central st Martins etc) has self catering halls starting at about £7600 p/a. Some are 42 weeks and some are 51 weeks with correspondingly higher prices. Some studios and some en suite. London has house rentals for 3 academic terms so you do not pay in July and August. Other Uni cities you pay all year to get something decent and in the right location. You may have to factor in transport costs too as some halls are not that close to the universities.

Catered means breakfast and dinner included in the rental. Most London halls do not appear to offer this. None at University of the Arts. Every London university will have details of their halls and prices on their web sites so look at the best ones that suit your DC. I can assure you that £4500 is low for London and you are describing self catered, Quirrel. What London Uni was it and where was the hall? Many go up to £10,000 plus but if they want a summer job the 51 weeks is good. Rentals depend on age of property, location, en suite or not. Central London is way more expensive so you will get cheaper at suburban universities. If the only course you want is in London you have to go for it but much cheaper elsewhere as purits says.

DD's first year accommodation, self catered, shared bathroom, currently £159 per week. No transport costs 5 min walk from UCL. Sainsbury's on corner for after 7 price reductions. Used it through the holidays to access well paid work (and for clubbing) she does know that she will probably never have a chance to be so at the centre of the capital city again and did make the most of it. Now she is in student flat in Camden £550 per month.

I might be describing self catered, but we were clearly told that our particular halls were catered etc etc, and yes I assure you there were grumblings in the canteen queues not sure how they got away with it- except that we got a discount whereas people living in self catered halls wouldn't. I would rather not say which uni I go to but you could probably have a good guess. £4.5k was one of the much cheaper grottier ones yep.